Cosmetic brushes, especially professional grade cosmetic brushes used in the theatre, motion picture and television industries, are typically constructed by affixing brush bristles of various materials to a wooden handle, or a handle made from some other material that is not resistant to the growth of bacteria on the handle as well as on the bristles of the brush. When wooden handles are utilized, the Goods and Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards require that the wooden handles be coated with a paint or sealant to resist bacteria growth on the handle and further, to the brush itself.
Oftentimes, after continued use and repetitive cleaning, the paint or sealant applied to the handle is eventually removed. Paint thinner used to clean the make-up from theses types of brushes usually includes a solvent such as ethanol, acetone or petroleum ethylene. Such solvents damage the paint, thus exposing the wooden handle to bacteria and providing a bacteria friendly medium for the bacteria to grow.
The GMP standards also require that brushes be sterilized and packaged before being shipped to retailers. Most manufacturers ship the brushes in a temporary packaging so that once the brushes reach the retailer, they can be removed from the temporary packaging and displayed for sale. This packaging and shipping method wastes the sterilization process and effectuates a sale display that is prone to bacteria spread, as the brushes are in close proximity to each other or even touching each other, and not displayed in packaging of any kind.
Lastly, when these types of brushes are utilized in the industry, it is common for the cosmetology artists to use and store these brushes much in the same way as they are displayed for sale. In other words, the brushes are placed in close proximity to each other and are most often in a pile. This type of storage and display arrangement, combined with the exposure of the wooden handle after continued use and cleaning, promotes bacteria growth and spread on and among a collection of brushes. As will be apparent to one skilled in the art, other contaminants such as, but not limited to, viruses, allergins, mold and fungi can and do grow and spread in current brush designs. The present invention seeks to solve the growth and spread of such contaminants as well. It should be noted that use of the words contaminated and bacteria in this disclosure are inclusive of other contaminants known in the art as described above.